Mira arrived at 7 am. She was offered a continental breakfast and nibbled on some grapes and water. Finished, she was taken to the same testing room she was in on the first day. Indeed, it was a repeat of her first day, with the same IQ testing. Halfway, she stopped, squirming. She was on fire, her nipples shooting electricity with the contact with the thin T-shirt she wore. In her privates, she felt like she was on fire, and she did not need to touch to know she was as wet as she ever had been. Mira was now certain she was being given something, but not sure what or how. The computer noted she was not answering the test.

“Is there something wrong, Ms. Lyric?”

“I’ve done this. It’s boring," Mira retorted. 

“And I need a dildo,” she muttered.

The computer heard her remark. A moment later, it addressed her, “Ms. Lyric, you may be interested in a variation? Wait approximately 10 minutes.”

Mira resisted the urge to slide her hand in her shorts to take care of herself. Her mind whirred with the possibilities.  A few minutes later, an attendant arrived and escorted her to another room.  Her eyes widened; it was a sort of reclining chair with a computer terminal above it. What drew her eye was a dildo attached to a shiny steel rod.  She concluded even as the computer began to speak.

"If you repeat the test…” the computer began, and was interrupted by Mira, “The dildo operates for correct answers.”

“Correct.” The computer was unflappable.

Mira stripped, sat, and adjusted the toy to the entrance of her dripping grotto. Mira then got the computer set.  “Begin,” she ordered.

She moaned as the machine thrust into her on the first correct answer of the quiz.

oOo

Rick found Reina and Xavier having breakfast. After they invited him to join them, he had a cup of coffee and addressed Reina. 

“Do you know where this research lab is? I wanted to go with Mira, but she did not wake me up.”

“Yes,” she purred. “I can take you there if my darling husband will let me go.” The Japanese woman was all smiles.

“Sure, Love, I should check in with the airline anyway,” Xavier replied. 

Reina excused herself to change, and Xavier and Rick speculated what was going on at the lab. Rick confided that Mira had told him it was testing her limits, mental and physical, and she found it sexually stimulating. Reina interrupted the discussion, returning in a tight T-shirt and short skirt. 

“I called a rideshare; we should wait outside,” she informed Rick

On the way to the lab, Rick asked Reina if what Mira had told him was accurate. Reina offered Rick a breath mint as she told him her version of what she saw. She finished, and they were silent for the rest of the trip, each lost in their own thoughts.

The car pulled up to the facility, and Reina led Rick into the lobby.  Rick’s eyes fell on a tall woman in a lab coat, who strode over, hand outstretched. 

“Dr Hana Kealoha.” She took Rick’s hand. 

“Rick Kelly.”

Hana glanced at Reina. “Good morning, Reina. Is this the boyfriend?”

Reina responded with a single nod.

“How can I help you, Mr. Kelly?” Hana asked.

“I want to see Mira. I want to let her know I’m here to support her.”

“I’m afraid that would taint the test.”

“Perhaps we could observe, without interacting with Mira,” Reina suggested quietly.

Hana paused, thinking. “You may not like what you see, Mr. Kelly.”

“I don’t care; I want to see her.” Rick’s tone became insistent. 

"Perhaps you would like to try what Mira has been taking? It would give you a sample of the enhancing abilities of our compound."

"If that gets me to see Mira."

Reina and Rick filled out consent forms for the lab.

Reina stepped to the reception desk, and the girl handed her bottles of water.

Returning to Rick’s side, she handed him one. Hana took them to a small observation room. Hana keyed in some commands, and a screen on one wall in front of several seats sprang to life.

Mira, naked and sweating, was slouched in a chair, rapidly clicking something on a computer. A pistoning sex machine was rapidly pumping the white-haired woman full of silicone cock. Rick swallowed, throat dry. He opened the water and guzzled half of it.   

Mira was having multiple orgasms, frustrated that the computer was gatekeeping her answers. She wanted to speed up, to make the dildo fuck her faster. A window opened at the bottom of the screen. Mira glanced and saw Rick and Reina take seats in a room. She noted Rick swallowing water from a bottle. Reina also sipped from a bottle. 

They are watching me. She moaned at the thought of Rick seeing her like this, and she had another orgasm.

Rick stared at Mira as she convulsed. She had paused the clicking, and the pistoning machine slowed and stopped, but she immediately started again, and the machine ramped up to what was apparently its maximum speed.

Rick felt flushed. He was growing hard, watching Mira’s exquisite body writhe. Reina too was affected. Her hand trailed down Rick’s leg. 

The pair looked at each other and suddenly were making out, Reina grabbing Rick's cock through his trousers. Buttons, belts, and zippers flew open, and before He knew what was happening, he was behind Reina, thrusting into the Japanese woman for all he was worth. His eyes were glued to the screen.  Mira appeared to be staring at him as yet another orgasm wracked her body. 

Reina was convulsing around Rick's hard cock, their bodily fluids squirting around his meat as he continued to slam home. Reina came, screaming. 

Mira stopped. “Hana, get your ass in here.” She gathered her clothes and dressed.

When Hana arrived, she touched her pad and the cameras and monitors went dark.

Mira’s voice was cold. “I know.”

Hana’s eyes narrowed. “Exactly what?”

Mira broke it down. She was deliberately drugged for these experiments. They enhanced her mind but put her body into sexual overdrive. 

“But drugging Reina-drugging RICK! That’s beyond the pale, Hana. I’m done. Your experiment is over.”

Mira got out of the room but found a door in the hall had closed and locked.  Really, Mira thought. She opened an app on her phone and ordered a rideshare. 

Mira then backtracked 10 feet and pulled the fire alarm. She heard the click of the electric lock as the buzzers screamed and lights flashed. Confident that every electric lock was now open to allow evacuation, Mira walked out of the building.  She was climbing into the silver Ford Fusion when Hana came out the front door, searching for her. From the car, she texted Xavier to get the plane ready.  She finished packing when Rick arrived. 

“Mira, I…”

“Don’t. I know what happened and why. You were given the drug.”

Mira waved to her bag. “Better pack. I asked Xavier to get the plane ready to fly.”

There was silence as Rick threw his clothes into his case. The four met in the lobby as Mira checked them out of the hotel. Reina and Rick looked like children caught swiping cookies. 

“Anyone want to tell me what’s going on?” Xavier asked. 

“We were drugged, Xavier. At least Rick has been, and Reina has, too. And me, since the flight here, right, Reina?” The Japanese woman nodded slowly.

“I had a suspicion. It was clear after they turned the camera on to show me Rick fucking you.” She took a deep breath. “It was fine when I was the lab rat. I have never felt so, so much confidence in myself, but giving it to you, Rick, no. That crossed a line.”

The plane sat on the tarmac, engines warming, when a car pulled up. Hana got out, raging mad. Mira met her at the foot of the stairs.

“You can’t-”

“I can’t WHAT, Hana? Cancel your experiment? Yes, I can. I’m gone. And you will do NOTHING. Try, and there will be a meeting with the FDA and a Senate subcommittee in about 3 days. GOT IT?”

"But you all signed consent--"

Mira fought the urge to poke Hana in the chest. As furious as she was, touching Hana might have been followed by a fist. Mira climbed up the stairs, and Xavier hit the button to close the hatch. 

oOo

Halfway across the ocean, Mira sighed. No one had spoken to her since takeoff. She left her seat, went aft, and sat across from Reina.

“You work for Liricelle,” Mira stated. Reina nodded.

They have a file on you. They know your complete history, public, private, and… sexual.” Her eyes met Mira’s. It has been double the hours since your last dose. Do you still feel…?”

“Like I want to eat your pussy from here to New York? Yes. With luck it’s not the drug, but what the drug unlocked inside me.” Mira excused herself, went to the partition separating the cockpit from the cabin, and opened it. Her eyes locked with Rick’s. “We need to talk. Now.”

Rick joined her in the front seats. “Sorry,” he said.

“No, I’m the one who is sorry, Rick. You know what the drug does. Right now, I can tell you I love you. I want you. I’m yours. But that is right now. Will I tomorrow? A week from now? I have no idea how long the drug will be in me. I don’t know if my FEELINGS are part of the drug. I know wanting to suck your cock right now is the drug… Or maybe not.  I just–” She looked up at him with tears in her eyes. “Can you love a lie?”

Rick drew her in. “Why don’t we both give in to the drug when we land?” Tomorrow can wait for an answer to anything else, but yes...” He kissed Mira deeply.  “It’s corny and a cliché, but you in the airport, that scraggly Smiths T-shirt. It was love at first sight. I love you, Mira.”

oOo

Mira woke as the wheels touched down. A glance out the window told her they were not in JFK or LaGuardia. 

“Mira, Reina, we have touched down at Teterboro, New Jersey–and we have a reception committee.”

The plane rolled into a hangar, and the engines shut down. Rick and Xavier came back and opened the hatch. The flight crew disembarked first, and Mira made sure her necklace was still there, then followed them down, her jump bag in hand. She had written her address down on a slip of paper.

At the foot of the stairs, Mira looked Reina up and down. “I should be angry with you, but I think you were just doing what you were told, and now you know what that drug does. I think this is goodbye, but I hope not. Take care of Xavier; he’s a special man.” She gave Reina the paper. “Please have the rest of my things sent here.”

She moved to Xavier. “Thank you. Thank you for your help, and for watching over this group. I envy you, Reina. I envy your bond, and I hope I see you both.”

Rick stood apart from the others. Mira went to him, dropped her bag, and hugged him tight. He returned the hug, and his lips met hers. 

“I can’t say goodbye. I have no idea who these people are. Say you will come with me.”

Rick looked down at her. “I will stay by your side until you don’t want me there.”

They turned to the Rolls. The driver came around the car and opened the door. Out stepped a tall, immaculate man. He was white, with white hair, a pale complexion, a white suit, and white shoes. The only color was a ruby ring on his left hand. 

Mira froze. Rick looked between Mira and the man, then back to Mira. The resemblance was uncanny. “Is that...?”

Mira gave a small nod. “My father.”

They approached the car, and the driver intercepted Rick. Without breaking eye contact with her father,  Mira’s voice came off a glacier.

“He comes, or I stay.” The ultimatum was absolute. 

“In the front,” the driver muttered as he held the door for his boss and Mira. They were silent until the rolls started to move. 

“Hello, Mira.” She did not answer him.

“You look like your mother,” he said, his voice rising in pitch.

“She didn’t have this,” she said, holding up the long white braid.

“No.” He touched the ring on his hand.

Left hand. Ring finger. Mira clocked. Her hand touched her sapphire.

“Your mother?” he asked. 

“No.”

He paused. His eyes flicked to the front seat. “He did.”

“Yes.”

She touched the sapphire again. “When he gave it to me, I told him I'd never take it off.”  Mira's eyes dropped to his hand.

“And that?” He looked down.

“Your mother gave me this.”

“You still wear it.”

“I told her I'd never take it off.”

“So you can love.”

“Yes.”

Mira looked out the window. “Good to know.”

“You are angry.”

Mira ignored the question. Her voice dropped a register, almost a growl. “What am I supposed to call you? Mr. Basehart? Walter?" She paused. Then hissed, “Father?”

Walter was silent.

Mira gave a humorless laugh. “Father. You don't deserve that.”

“Mira—”

“No.” She turned toward him, eyes flashing. “You had thirty years. Don't start pretending you get to be my father now.”

Walter said nothing.

Mira's eyes returned to the passing city.

“Walter will do,” she said.